AGO 1993-057.

Case DateDecember 20, 1993
CourtOhio
Ohio Attorney General Opinions 1993. AGO 1993-057. December 20, 1993OPINION NO. 1993-057The Honorable R. Larry Schneider Union County Prosecuting Attorney 111 West Sixth Street Marysville, Ohio 43040-0231 Dear Prosecutor Schneider: You have requested an opinion regarding the purposes for which a township may expend motor vehicle fuel excise tax revenues. Your specific questions are as follow:
1. May funds allocated to a township pursuant to R.C. 5735.27 ("gasoline tax") be used by the township to finance, all or in part, the construction, maintenance and/or improvement of a driveway and parking lot for the township hall?
2. If the gasoline tax funds may not be used, without limitation, for the construction, maintenance, and/or improvement of the driveway and parking lot, may said funds be used if the township acquires road equipment and stores the equipment in a building, structure, or shed located at such a place that the driveway and parking lot constitute necessary access to the equipment? If the gasoline tax may not be used to totally fund the driveway and parking lot, may it be apportioned in some way between the gasoline tax and other funds?
Constitutional and Statutory Limitations Upon the Expenditure of Motor Vehicle Fuel Excise Tax Revenues
Ohio Const. art. XII, §5 provides that "[n]o tax shall be levied, except in pursuance of law; and every law imposing a tax shall state, distinctly, the object of the same, to which only, it shall be applied." Ohio Const. art. XII, §5a in turn provides as follows with respect to revenues derived specifically from motor vehicle license taxes and motor vehicle fuel excise taxes:
No moneys derived from fees, excises, or license taxes relating to registration, operation, or use of vehicles on public highways, or to fuels used for propelling such vehicles, shall be expended for other than costs of administering such laws, statutory refunds and adjustments provided therein, payment of highway obligations, costs for construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of public highways and bridges and other statutory highway purposes, expense of state enforcement of traffic laws, and expenditures authorized for hospitalization of indigent persons injured in motor vehicle accidents on the public highways.
Syllabus paragraph one of Grandle v. Rhodes, 169 Ohio St. 77, 157 N.E.2d 336 (1959) thus declares, in part, as follows: "Section 5a, Article XII of the Constitution of Ohio, closely restricts the expenditure of the fees and taxes received in relation to vehicles using the public highways to purposes directly connected with the construction, maintenance and repair of highways and the enforcement of traffic laws." (Emphasis added.) Accordingly, "[i]n keeping with this constitutional restriction, the General Assembly has enacted statutes levying motor vehicle fuel ... taxes, carefully specifying the purposes for which such moneys may be used." 1991 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 91-043 at 2-229 to 2-230. See R.C. 5735.05 (imposing an excise tax upon the use, distribution, or sale within the state of motor vehicle fuel, and declaring the purposes for which the revenues generated from that tax may be used); R.C. 5735.05(B) ("[t]he two cent excise tax levied by this section is also for the purpose of paying the expenses of administering and enforcing the state law relating to the registration and operation of motor vehicles"); R.C. 5735.23(B)(2)(a), (b) and (C)(2)(a)-(c) (designating the various funds to which receipts from the tax levied by R.C. 5735.05 are to be paid, and specifying that certain percentages are to be paid to the gasoline excise tax fund, R.C. 5735.27(A), for distribution among and to the municipal corporations, counties, and townships pursuant to R.C. 5735.27(A)(1), (A)(3), and (A)(5)); R.C. 5735.25 (imposing an additional excise tax upon the use, distribution, or sale within the state of motor vehicle fuel); R.C. 5735.26(B)-(D) (designating the funds to which receipts from the tax levied by R.C. 5735.25 are to be paid, and specifying that certain percentages are to be paid to the gasoline excise tax fund for distribution among and to the municipal corporations, counties, and townships pursuant to R.C. 5735.27(A)(2), (A)(4), and (A)(5)). See also 1992 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 92-049 at 2-201 ("revenues derived from motor vehicle fuel excise taxes may be used only for the purposes described in the statutes governing the levying, collection and distribution of those taxes").
Purposes for Which a Township May Expend Motor Vehicle Fuel Excise Tax Revenues
R.C. 5735.27 creates the gasoline excise tax fund in the state treasury. R.C. 5735.27(A). The gasoline excise tax fund is comprised of revenues derived from the motor vehicle fuel excise taxes levied pursuant to R.C. 5735.05 and R.C. 5735.25, which are credited to that fund in accordance with R.C. 5735.23 and R.C. 5735.26. R.C. 5735.27 further describes the manner in which the motor vehicle fuel excise tax revenues credited to the gasoline excise tax fund are to be distributed among and to the municipal corporations, counties, and townships within the state, and specifies the purposes for which those revenues may be expended. R.C. 5735.27(A)(1)-(5). In the case of townships, R.C. 5735.27(A)(5) states, in pertinent part, as follows:
The amount [of motor vehicle fuel excise tax revenues] credited
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